Lost and Alone
by Icebox
Summary: COMPLETE! A simple mission went horribly wrong and our favorite scientist has to learn how to survive on his own.
1. Waking Up

Title: Lost and Alone

Author: Icebox

Rating: PG-13/R (later maybe)

Archive: Let me know

Summary: A mission went horribly wrong and our favorite scientist has to learn to survive on his own.

_Cold.__ It's so cold. Why does this always happen to me? The genius is always the one to suffer? Ow. Damn it's cold. Makes it all hurt worse. _Rodney McKay thought as he lay shivering in the chilling, wet, stone cell that was doused in complete darkness.

The lone prisoner was in worse shape than his acommidations. The jacket he had a week before at that beginning of this extremely failed mission was long gone. His blue shirt was no longer blue, but in shreds and covered with dirt, mud, but mostly blood. His pants were in the same shape as his shirt and his socks and shoes were discarded with his jacket somewhere in the Pegasus galaxy.

_I'm hungry. I hate being hypoglycemic. Not eating enough here. __Carson__'s gonna be mad. He'll start lecturing me and he'll be so riled up that I can't understand him. Sheppard and Ford will laugh behind his back at his fussing. __Elizabeth__ will smirk and look mildly concerned. Teyla will do that damn one raised eyebrow thing, the one you have to be alien to do, and look confused. Then I'll get a lot of food and sleep in a nice warm bed. All that needs to happen is for them to find me, Sheppard to scold me for not being that good at defending myself, and then they'll take me back to Atlantis. I just have to wait until they show up. I'm too valuable for them to leave behind. And Sheppard especially is all gung ho about nobody getting left behind. They won't leave me here.'_

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the footsteps that were coming for him again. He didn't notice the door open, dim light shinning into the rancid cell. He did finally notice when the two guards grabbed him by the arms, aggravating every bruise and broken rib in his mid-section, making him cry out in pain, and dragged him out of the cell, into a room and locked his wrists to the chains hanging from the ceiling, making his shoulders scream in protest for holding the burden of the rest of his weight. The man he had come to hate the past six days stood in front of him, smiling.

"Dr. McKay, it seems we have finally found a use for you. You'll be disappointed to hear that as of tomorrow, you will no longer be our guest. By trading you, I'll finally get my son back. However, before you leave, we need to get a few things straight."

The man walked toward him with something that reminded Rodney of a crowbar, and pain. As his mind was engulfed in darkness, he sent out another plea, _Where are you guys?_

Elizabeth Weir was reminded of why she didn't like this type of command as she finished the first MIA report since arriving on Atlantis. It had been six days with no leads as to Rodney's location. Sheppard's team was ambushed on a deserted planet, leaving three of them unconscious and another missing. When they woke back up, they searched frantically for their missing teammate with Teyla reporting back to Atlantis to get reinforcements in the search that eventually turned up nothing. With no clues, she was forced to call off the search. Aiden, Teyla, Zelenka, Grodin, Beckett and others all voiced their objections, none louder than John, but there was nothing left to be found, and they all knew it. Their friend was lost in a galaxy too big to search. _I'm sorry Rodney._

She closed the file, turned off the light and left her office. As she laid down on the bed in her quarters, she knew that like the previous six nights, she would get no sleep then either.

John Sheppard walked out onto the main balcony of Atlantis. It was late, but he gave up even trying to sleep a couple of days ago. _McKay, where the hell are you?_ He sent out into the night and waited as if expecting an answer. He didn't get one.

A while later, he was joined by Teyla as she came and leaned against the balcony beside him, not longer after that, Ford joined them. None of them spoke, just stared out at the ocean illuminated by the light of the night sky, thinking about what might be happening to their lost friend, and vowing not to give up on him yet.

AN: Alright, that's it for now, let me know what you think please! The more reviews I get, the more inspiration I get!


	2. Dealing

AN: Hi everybody, well, here's chapter 2. I just wanted to say a couple of things. I'm kind of playing this as a future fic, with a certain event in The Siege Part 1 never happening. You'll know it when you see it, its nothing big though. Mainly I'm saying this is a future fic because of Rodney's and everyone else's attitudes toward each other. How far into the future, no clue, just a point where they're comfortable with each other and a real family. I'm really playing with what Rodney said to his sister in Letter from Pegasus and about everyone being a family. Yeah, I'll shut up now.

Thanks to my reviewers:

Delles  
Skugga  
Angw  
Shootingsilverstarlight  
Prepare4trouble  
Annie  
Dee  
Mae  
G  
Fanficaddict  
Norah-hunt

You guys are great, keep those reviews coming!

And now back to our regular scheduled story, already in progress.

Chapter 2-Dealing

Rodney wasn't expecting to be feeling better when he woke up this time, but he actually did. Not to say he didn't feel like he was hit by a bus, just a smaller bus than the past week. At least that's how much time he guessed had gone by, who knows how long he had been out. _Guess I'd have to say it feels like I've been hit by a jumper, since I have yet to see a bus in this galaxy. _The floor wasn't as hard as he remembered, and it took him a minute to find out why. He wasn't in the cell anymore. He opened his eyes and could actually see. He was still in a cell type room, but it was cleaner, warmer, dryer, and brighter. He tried moving, and while everything was sore and heavy, nothing yelled for his attention. He noticed his ribs were wrapped and all felt back in place and all of his other injuries were simiularly taken care of.

_This is going to hurt,_ he thought as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, then waited for his body to settle back down. He then pushed himself to his feet, hoping to stay on them. The room only spun a couple of times before it landed and stayed in position. _Well, I know I'm definitely not in Atlantis, or __Carson__ would be on my ass by now, so where am I?_

Before he could start exploring the rest of his new residence, heavy footsteps were heard and the door was quickly opened. Three men stood there, the middle one slightly smaller than the other two and was clearly in charge. _Jeez, and I thought Teal'C was big. These guys could snap him in half! _The middle one then sized Rodney up, then gestured to the other two to apparently grab him and force him out of his cell, because that's what they did.

Once out of the cell, he was lead out of the building and into a line of about 20 other men. They were all chained together and then blindfolded. Rodney guessed they were being thrown in the back of what their version of a truck was. _Guess these guys may have a bus after all. Look's like I'm going on another field trip_ he thought as he slumped in defeat. Knowing the farther he went, the less likely his friends were to find him.

!#&!

The scene inside the conference room showed three exhausted people who hadn't slept in two weeks. Lt. Ford had his head resting in his arms on the table, resting without actually sleeping. Teyla had her normal somewhat regal posture, but could barley keep her eyes open. Major Sheppard looked dead to the world slumped down in his chair staring at the wall. This is the sight Weir walked into.

"As of 0800 hours this morning, the three of you are off duty for the next three days." Weir said as she sat down, looking at the remains of her head team.

"What?" John stared at her confused.

Weir sighed. "The three of you haven't slept in weeks, you're in no condition to be working, especially to go off-world. I'm giving you three days off to recover."

"Recover!" Sheppard said in disbelief. "Rodney is god knows where being put through who knows what and you want us to take time off? You've got to be kidding me." He stood up and started to pace.

"Yes, John. You've been through hell these past two weeks, and there's nothing else that can be done short of exploring every planet in this galaxy…"

"Then why aren't we doing that?" he snapped.

Weir took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to do as he said and agreed with him, she knew she had to hold it together for the city. "Look, Major, I know this is hard. That is why you are not on duty for the next three days. We have no leads as to where he is. There is nothing more we can do. We knew things like this were going to happen, we just have to move on and deal with it in our own way. If we come across a lead, we'll follow it, until then there is nothing we can do." With that she left the room, went into her office and closed the door.

Teyla watched as Sheppard stood frozen where he was, then he vaulted out of his chair and out of the room. She also noticed Ford didn't even notice, he just calmly stood up and walked out. Even though Teyla was used to losing the people she cared about, none of them had had the same impact after being lost as had the astrophysicist. Teyla got up and walked out to the balcony. She rested her arms on the railing and bowed her head to the ocean. She knew Rodney was still alive, she could feel it, he felt it was his duty to drive everyone on Atlantis crazy and she knew in her heart that he wouldn't give up without a fight. He wasn't different from the man she had first met all that time ago, he was just becoming more of who he was suppose to be. _We'll find you Rodney._

Until then, she would look after the other members of her team, show them they weren't alone in their struggles. She would let Sheppard have his space for the moment, but she knew Aiden would want to talk, to work through all of this chaos. She looked up again and stared at the ocean. _Hold on Dr. McKay._ With that, she turned and went off to find the youngest member of her team.

!#&!

Elizabeth sat inside her office, like she had the past couple of day. No one entered besides Peter, and even he knew not to disturb her unless it was necessary. She didn't notice the tears slowly make their way down her face. _Doesn't John know I don't want to give up either? Doesn't he know how much this is killing me too?_ But she knew he didn't. He was too focused on his goal to notice anything outside his mission scope. She was starting to loose her grip. Loosing people was hard and at the beginning of this mission, she swore to herself that she wouldn't get favorite's, she wouldn't get this close because stuff like this would happen. But somehow, some people got closer than she said she would allow, and she grew more attached to some than others.

Now that she had faced her toughest loss yet, she wasn't sure she could do this anymore. It was getting too hard.

!#&!

Major John Sheppard stood in the doorway of Rodney McKay's lab. Although the scientists knew they had given up search for the head of their department, they hadn't cleared his office. Over the past two weeks, the only time they entered his office was if they needed something in his lab or some of his research. Other than that, they felt it was wrong to disturb anything else.

He started walking about the room, running his hand around his desk, then went to sit in his chair. He smiled at the piles of power bars on the scientist's desk, some still waiting to be eaten and others just empty. It was then that he noticed something sticking out of a pile of papers and folders that seemed like it didn't belong. He reached over and gently pulled it from the stack and noticed it was the back of a picture, two of them. Turning it over, he felt his breath catch in his throat. The first one was old, it had a boy about 3 sitting in the lap of a girl about 8. It wasn't hard to see that the boy was Rodney, he just had this look about him that you could recognize anywhere and he guessed the girl was his sister, Jeannie. John knew somewhere in Rodney's heart, even before this mission, he had wanted to find a way to get closer to his sister, this picture just proved it.

The second picture was what really hit him. He didn't even know existed, but he knew where it was from. It seemed like all of Atlantis had taken the day off and went to the mainland. Many of the personal had taken to working on surfboards during their free time on Atlantis, including SGA-1. He himself knew how to surf, and had shared some stories with Ford about different wipeouts and perfect waves, so he knew the Lt could surf, but both were surprised to learn that McKay was one of the best they had seen. The picture was at about mid-day. They had found someone to lend their board to Teyla and the four of them were just out, sitting on their boards, waiting for the next wave. It was taken after Aiden had made some joke, so they were all laughing and smiling, looking more carefree than they probably ever felt.

John just sat there and stared at that picture for what felt like hours, just remembering. All of the laughs and bad jokes, the complaining and whining on the missions when he had to walk too far. All of their bickering. He rested his head in his hands, he didn't know what to do anymore. He stayed there well into the night, needing to be around something that remind him of his friend.

!#&!

AN2: Ok, that's it for now! I'll probably only be able to update once a week or so because college sucks and I still haven't figured out why I'm taking 19 units. Although lots of reviews may make me go faster, so REVIEW please? Ok, time for me to shut up, peace.


	3. New Day, New Crap

AN: Hi people, I finally updated again, although I think it's been more than a week, opps, sorry. I wrote this mostly during my Western Civilization class, which is always fun.

Thank you to all of my reviewers from the last chapter:

Livy1213  
Tigerdrake  
Out of Phase  
Purple Yin  
Shootingsilverstarlight  
Cryogenie  
Dee  
Delles  
Angw  
Terri  
And Lenka (thanks for the email!)

Ok, time for me to shut up and get to the story, but it's a lot to type!

Chapter 3 – New Day, New Crap

Rodney was slammed into the person next to him as the truck screeched to a stop. H e heard banging and clattering over to his right, and was then jerked when the guards started to throw the prisoners out of the truck while they were still chained together. _Ah, and my wrists had just stopped hurting. There go these guy's tips. _They were forced into a line and started walking. Rodney's feet were getting more and more cut up as he never got any shoes since he lost his who knows how long ago. The ground was hard with tiny rocks everywhere, including imbedded in Rodney's feet. After about two hours of walking, his feet just went numb. Escaping would be impossible almost because he couldn't see where he was going and try to make his way back because of the damn blindfold. _Well, there go all the survival tactics I know, you can just kill me now._ But they didn't, they just kept walking.

* * *

Major John Sheppard was sitting on a balcony on the Northern pier of Atlantis. Not that many people knew it existed, and even fewer used it, hell, he wouldn't be surprised if he was the only one who did, it was a big city and the scouting team may have forgotten about it. But he knew he was kidding himself, it was his team that found it. They had all seen the brief flicker in his eyes as he found a new hidin-um relaxing spot. Ford or Teyla would be up here at some point to make sure he ate and at least tried to get some sleep, they had only tried because Beckett was threatening to sedate them all. He put his head in his hands and thought back to that mission two weeks ago.

* * *

_(Flashback)_

_"Mckay!" Sheppard bellowed into the radio. They were scouting another planet today, they were just waiting for the very late head scientist, who just happened to come sprinting and gasping for air into the gate room at that moment._

_"Dr. Mckay, glad you could join us today, sorry for distracting you from your work to go on this mission, it must be such an inconvenience for you."_

_"As a matter of fact, it is at the moment. You see, someone has to keep this city running. We all can't just sit around with a big gun waiting for the enemy to show up so we can shoot them." Rodney came back in his harshly sarcastic tone._

_"Well maybe if-"_

_"Gentlemen," Weir's voice came from above them. "Is there a problem down there?"_

_"No, ma'am"_

_"Course not, __Elizabeth__. Why would there be any problems?"_

_She just rolled her eyes at the two, then looked back and nodded at Peter to dial the gate._

_"Lets go, that is of course if the good Dr.'s ready." He said with a smirk looking back at Mckay._

_"I'm standing here, aren't I Major?" his confrontational tone not dropped for a second._

_"Which is why I'm asking. You're standing there looking clueless as usual instead of walking toward the gate."_

_Mckay started mumbling phrases that Navy sailors would blush at and started stomping his usual stomp towards the gate where Ford and Teyla, used to the routine, were just about to step through with a smirking Major behind him._

_Everything was normal when they came out the other side, or what passed for normal in this galaxy. They started walking in the direction Mckay was getting power readings from, all the while still grumbling and glaring at the Major whenever he actually looked up from his 'tricorder' as Ford had named it against the Major's will._

_After ten minutes of walking they had all fallen into their regular positions with Teyla up front leading, Ford a few steps behind her, Mckay going at his own pace, not even looking anywhere but his device only he understood, and Major Sheppard bringing up the rear, making sure Rodney didn't trip over anything._

_"Major!"_

_

* * *

_

"Major Sheppard!"

"Teyla!" he leaped away from her and the hand on his shoulder as he was ripped out of his memories.

"I'm sorry Major Sheppard. I did not mean to startle you." She spoke calmly with a concerned look on her face. She watched as the mask appeared again over his face hiding the worry and guilt of losing a member of his team, especially the one least capable of taking care of himself, the one with no military training of any kind, the one the three of them were supposed to protect.

"It is not your fault that Dr. Mckay was taken, Major Sheppard. None of us even knew they were there. They wanted to capture one of us and nothing would stop them."

"They were following us Teyla. They were watching us the moment we stepped through the gate and we didn't even see it. They saw him as the easiest to take and they took him. He didn't even have time to draw his Beretta. I knew I should have pushed more to get him training in hand-to-hand combat more, but he's been so busy taking care of the city and I figured as long as we were there to protect him…" he dropped his head and stopped talking. He was leaning against the railing. "We messed up Teyla."

"Yes Major Sheppard, we did." Sheppard snapped his head up and looked at her, obviously not expecting that reply. "But Dr. Mckay is not as incapable as you are speaking of. He is a stubborn man and will not allow himself to die. If for no other reason than to prove to us he can. He knows we won't leave him behind.

"Now, true, we don't know where to look. So every planet we go to now becomes a possibility, a place to find new clues, a place where he could be hidden from us. We just keep looking. We do our part and find him, and he'll do his part and stay alive whenever he is, then complain about what took so long and ask for a power bar." She finally saw Sheppard smile at that.

"Yea. He's probably making sure everyone on the planet knows of his hypoglycemia. I'm surprised they haven't given him back yet." They both laughed at this as Lt. Ford came out onto the balcony.

"Teyla, Sir, what's so funny?" he asked as he came up beside them.

"Just imagining the torture of whatever Rodney's putting the people who are holding him through." Ford smiled.

"I was just talking to Sgt. Bates. All teams have been told to keep an eye out for the Doc or any possible clue as to where he might be."

"Good. That means we won't be the only ones still looking." Sheppard said. Ford smirked and kept his gaze on the Major.

"Apparently though, it was unnecessary. Just by being here or having some of them on their teams, the military see the scientist's s part of their own and the same for the scientists, although neither side will ever admit it to the other. Bates also said more scientists are volunteering for off world missions."

"What, did they get bored with all the toys in the city?" Sheppard sarcastically commented.

"That's what Bates thought, until those same scientists were asking the military personal and the few Athosians still on base for lessons on tracking. Apparently Grodin and Zelenka are leading the group." Ford finished with a small smile.

"They're trying to find him too." Sheppard's expression mirrored Ford's.

The three of them stayed on the balcony for a little longer, staring out at the ocean with a renewed sense of hope. Teyla and Ford both looked to Sheppard when he leaned back and stood.

"Let's get back to work." Sheppard's expression spoke volumes and the other two stood and they all walked back to the city together.

* * *

Dr. Rodney Mckay didn't know if it was a good or bad thing that he got the end of the bed to sleep on. They packed ten people to a bed that looked like it could barely fit five. His was also they top bunk. _Well at least I'm not sandwiched between the other guys, that would be oh so pleasant. Although, that is a long way down._

It took a while, a long while, but he finally fell asleep, dreaming of Atlantis and hoping Zelenka was taking care of his city.

* * *

AN2: That's it for now everybody. Give me feedback and you will be a new friend! I'll post a chapter when I can, but reviews will make me more confidence to write faster. Peace. 


	4. This Sucks

Chapter 4

AN: I was pretty quick with this one, but that was only because I was procrastinating from doing my homework, or ever class work. I would like to quickly thank all the people who review "Better than his Cat" or whatever it was called, I can't ever remember. But thank you **McRaider, Purple Yin, cripeswolfdee, Margaret, Drakcir, and SupremeCommanderThor.**

And of course all of those who reviewed last chapter

Cryogenic  
Stonedtoad  
Lirenel  
CJ Jade  
Out of Phase  
And a special one to shootingsilverstarlight who hasn't missed a chapter yet!

Thank you, and now on to the story.

* * *

Blinding light shot out from above as guards stormed into the room and started ripping people from their beds, yelling in a language that Rodney didn't understand. He was grabbed by rough hands and tossed from the top bunk before he had even woken up. Another pair of hands picked him up and shoved him, along with everyone else, out the door.

The sun was just as blinding as light in the room and this was going to be a hot planet. They were roughly put into four groups and lead off in separate directions. _Yay, more walking._

Rodney wasn't fairing too well. It had been almost a day since he ate and he could feel his hypoglycemia coming on. Every time he stumbled, he was hit by a guard and yelled at, getting the gist of what they meant but not understanding a word.

After an hour of walking, they came upon a camp and were finally given…_well, I guess this is food_ He closed his eyes, shoveled it in and didn't give himself the time to taste it. Not caring about the whole citrus factor it didn't really matter at the moment.

After the 'meal' they were shoved back into a line and lead over to a shed where helmets and some type of animal skin was being handed out, along with some axe used for mining a bit farther down. After everyone had been handed one of everything, they went walking again, this time to the base of a mountain, and into a dark cave. _Well, let's just cross the yellow sand, the feels like brick, road, meet some new people, and enter the dark cave. I never did like that movie.'_

* * *

Atlantis was having its normal busy activity with scientists running around with laptops and Ancient gadgets. Sheppard, Ford, and Teyla, who would be accompanied this mission by Dr. Zelenka, were all waiting for the gate to be dialed up to go on their first mission since Mckay was taken.

The team was thrown a little off by Zelenka's presence in Mckay's chair during the briefing, but seemed to be dealing with it in their own way. Zelenka was also a little thrown off by taking his friends place, but kept telling himself it was only temporary.

All thoughts from all team members were silenced as the gate began to deal and they focused on the task at hand.

* * *

It was four hours later when the team returned to Atlantis, all looking disheartened. The power readings had faded after they convinced on the planet, and there was no trace of their missing friend.

They went through the debriefing as usual, and had nothing else to do besides wait for their teams next turn off world in the rotation.

* * *

Rodney was freezing. And hungry. And tired. The axes were used to chop through the ice on the sides, where they would have to claw through the rock wall with their hands to find the minerals they were looking for. Rodney's hands were completely numb, whether it was from the pain or the cold, he couldn't tell. _Of course, hypoglycemia still isn't out of the equation_, he thought as his vision began to blur again as he wavered on his feet. He held a hand against the wall to steady himself only to have the now familiar feeling of something hitting him in the back with a rifle and started yelling in their own language. Finally, Rodney snapped.

"I don't understand you! Do you get it yet? Do you really-" he was cut off as the rifle came and struck him across the temple. He had no idea it was coming because it was so dark, and eh was now on the ground, cradling his head. He could hear more yelling, the two guards picked him up and dragged him out of the caves only to be dragged back into a building, and into another cell. He was thrown in and his foot was chained to the wall. He looked up when the door opened again.

_Oh no, not again._

* * *

AN: Ok guys, that's it again for now. Reviews do make me go faster, so review review review! Ok, time for me to shut up. Peace. 


	5. Worse and Better

Chapter 5

Worse and Better

AN: OK, thanks to **Out of Phase, angw, ****Dee****, and J **for their reviews. Now, back to our regularly scheduled story, already in progress.

_

* * *

_

_Déjà vu_ All he felt was pain. Broken ribs made it impossible to breath. Other broken bones were jarred even more by the shaking brought on by the hypoglycemic reaction. Blood was seeping out of everywhere from the whip they used. They had stopped yelling what he assumed to be questions at him after the second day, but had continued to beat and torture him, laughing when he cried out or withered away. They made him choke down some weird kind of food to keep him alive.

The shaking increased in interests as night came, making it drop about twenty degrees. Rodney's violent shivering made it almost impossible to breath, and he could feel himself loosing his grip.

He started thinking about Atlantis. Radek's waiting until his glasses fell off his nose to push them back up. Carson with all his annoying needles and loveable mice. Grodin talking of his old football/soccer days back home. Elizabeth and how she was somehow able to put up with them all. His team. The only reason he was hanging on this long was because he knew they wouldn't give up on him. He knew in the beginning he tested their sanity, but the three of them had somehow seen through him. They saw he wasn't as harsh as he tried to be and began to understand all his snide remarks. They depended on each other and they had actually trusted him to watch their back in a fight. He knows with certainty they're still looking for him. _Too bad they're only going to bring me home in a body bag. _With that thought, he fell back asleep.

The guards came in again when morning came again. He tried to curl himself up into a tighter ball, but the pain and numbness in almost everything didn't let it happen. But the guards didn't start in on him. Two of them picked him up and started dragging him. Breathing became even harder as pain flamed up even more than seemed possible. Despite the freezing caves, it was unbearably hot outside. Even more dirt was getting into probably infected wounds on his lower body as he was dragged.

Their destination was a tiny shack; it looked like it was made out of metal. When he saw someone throw a bucket of water on the top of it, he suddenly realized what it was. He could feel himself giving in to his lack of oxygen, and sent out a silent goodbye to his friends before telling himself fall into the darkness.

* * *

"Major Sheppard, Lt. Ford, and Teyla, report to the conference room immediately." Peter Grodin's voice rang out over Atlantis and the three he called rushed to the conference room only to be met with Weir and a still fully geared up Bates looking over what appeared to be a map and a gate address.

Sheppard was the last one to arrive and instantly yelled, "What the hell's going on?"

"We may have found him, sir!" Bates answered, no one needed him to say who.

"What! Where is he!" Sheppard barked at Bates.

"Gentlemen!" Weir spoke quickly to stop the chaos that had erupted in the room after Bates' statement as Ford and Teyla joined in interrogating Bates. When they all stopped talking at her shout, she continued. "Sgt., if you would please start from the beginning."

The Sgt. took a breath, and began. "Not long after my team arrived on MX3-424, we meet up with the locals who call themselves the Lomineans. Robertson and I spent the day brokering a deal with the government for food and such while Coleman and Baker talked with the locals. They started talking about the Wraith and warning them about their waking. They told Baker and Coleman that the Wraith weren't their society's only problem. They told them they were at war with another society called the Wantarians, who stalk their people while scouting other planets, then subdue and capture as many as possible. They then raided me and told me this, seeing the connection between these attacks and the ones that took Mckay. We questioned the officials and they gave us the location of the planet and where the prisoners are kept to work the mines."

"Wait a minute. If they have all this Intel, why haven't they gotten their people out?" Sheppard jumped in and questioned. It was a miracle he kept quiet this long.

"They don't have the force to do it. Their world is left with farmers and pitchforks." He directed the next statement back to Weir. "Ma'am, their pretty much willing to give us whatever food we need if we get their people back along with Mckay."

"So your proposing a full scale take over compared to an extraction?" Weir asked, not to sure what to think.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied, determined eyes locking with hers.

"If I'm looking," Sheppard jumped in, looking at the map. "It won't take that much of a force at all. Cloaked jumpers could easily take care of the guard stations, especially if we go early morning. Says here all guards except ten at each camp are in the buildings. I'm hoping the prisoners won't just stand around, but two snipers at each camp taking care of the guards at the same time the jumpers take care of the buildings should get rid of almost everyone."

"The Lomineans will give us their scouts to help. They would probably know the best positions for our snipers to be." Bates added as he joined Sheppard at the map, along with Teyla and Ford.

"Gentlemen." Weir stepped in again. "I'll ignore for the moment that you're already planning this mission before I even approved it and deal with that later. Sgt." She turned completely on Bates. "Gather your team and head back to the planet. Bring back who you need to. Officials, scouts, whatever. Depending on the planets time cycle, we'll go an hour before sunrise. We'll bring everyone back here to treat any wounded, then send them home. Leave as soon as you're ready."

"We'll go now ma'am. My team is still in the gate room." Weir wasn't surprised by anything anymore, and just nodded. Bates returned it and left the room, heading for the gate and only pausing to tell Grodin what address to put in again. When she looked back to the table, Ford, Teyla, and Sheppard where talking strategy. She almost found herself smiling, feeling it in her gut that he was on the planet. _Hold on Rodney, _she mentally sent out. _We're coming_

Little did she know her friend was still doing all he could in his unconscious mind to fight his losing battle against his broken body and the drastically rising heat in the metal shed with the rising sun.

* * *

AN2: That's it for a while folks. I'm going to try and get this story done before finals in two weeks, but I highly doubt that will happen. Just stick with me and please review, they keep me sane in this unending world of misery known as school. REVIEW! 


	6. Loss of Hope

AN: ok, here's chapter 6. Thanks to my reviewers **Rowana Farrin, nebby J, Moondoggy, Lirenel, Out of Phase, Cyllwen, angw, cryogenie, and Lennexa. **Keep those reviews coming!

Time for me to shut up now.

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Chapter 6

Loss of Hope

Rodney Mckay had been drifting in and out of consciousness all day long. He wasn't usually conscious for very long because the hot air was impossible to breath and it burned his lungs when he even tried. But when he woke up this time, the air was cooler, much cooler. _Nighttime._ _At least it's somewhat easier to breathe._ H felt something weird on his skin, he felt it every time he woke up, but all the other times he woke up he was more concerned with breathing. The feeling was barley detectable under all of the pain. He only noticed it because that is what he reasoned was making the pain flare up. It was like a feather lightly touching all over his body and wounds. He couldn't figure it out by feel, so he opened his eyes. He wished he hadn't.

His scream came out more like a whimper through his broken, pain filled, and he now realized, bug infested body. _I'm literally being eaten alive._ His weak struggles stopped as he fell again into unconsciousness, hoping not to wake again.

* * *

Like Intel said, the gate was unguarded. Three cloaked jumpers, two military and one medical, flew through the gate and started towards their respective camps with the medical jumper heading to hide out between the two camps, waiting for the militaries all clear.

It was another hour before dawn by the time they got the snipers and jumpers in place. Sheppard and his team were in one jumper, Bates and his team in the other with Stackhouse piloting, and each jumper having an additional five soldiers on their team. When Beckett got into his jumper, Weir didn't even try to stop him. She didn't like having her Head Medical officer on such a dangerous mission, but she knew there'd be no way to keep him from going. She herself had to try hard not to just hump in a jumper and accompany them. But she had the heads of the Lomeian government to consult with.

Everyone inside the jumpers was silent, afraid to make a sound. They waited until most of the guards were inside the building.

"Bates, our targets are in position. What's your status?" Sheppard said into his radio.

"The last of the guards have just gone into the building, sir. We're ready and awaiting your orders."

"Then let's not keep them waiting. Ford, arm weapons. We'll fire at the same time so there's no warning. In 3…2…1. Fire!"

* * *

It took all of ten minutes for the Atlantis team to take care of the camp. Half an hour later and they still couldn't find Mckay and they had gone through most of the camp. Sheppard was about to explode. He, Ford, and Bates were looking through all the Lomeians still waiting for a jumper transport back to the gate which Teyla was helping with, also looking for Mckay in case the others had missed him. They had been trying to ask the Lomeians, but none seemed to understand him.

"Damnit Mckay, where are you!" Sheppard finally bellowed out.

"You looking for someone?" asked a nearby Lomeian. All three men immediately pounced on the man.

"Yea. He wasn't one of your people. He's one of ours, about my height-"

"Yes, yes. I know of him. It was not hard to tell he was not from our world. The guards took him four days ago." He cut Sheppard off.

"Where, where did they take him!" Ford now jumped into the interrogation.

"There" the man pointed behind them.

A look of shock, horror, and grief took over the faces of the three men as they looked to where he was pointing. It was the building they had just blown up half an hour before, and was now in ruins and parts still on fire.

"No" whispered Sheppard as he dropped to his knees, head falling foreword as he realized he just killed his friend.

* * *

AN2: That's it. This was a nicer chapter than what I had planned shockingly. After everyone's happy reviews that they would find him, I thought about writing him being on another damn planet and trick everybody, but then that would have messed with everything so I didn't do it. I have the next chapter written, I just need to type it up. Reviews encourage me to type faster! Although, this is going to be finals week, so who knows what will happen, finals may just put me in the mood to kill everybody! Hehe. Ok, time to study, REVIEW. 


	7. Too Close

AN: And now for chapter 7.Oh, and let's just say the Stackhouse is a lower class Sgt. than Bates. Oh, and let's also say that on the Life Signs Detector on the jumper can tell human life signs from bugs.

Thanks to all my reviewers out there:

**Shootingsilverstarlight**- Nice to have you back reviewing. Good luck on your finals too!

**nebbyJ**- umm, if you don't like bugs, not to sure how much your going to like this chapter!

**Somebody**- It's nice to know I'm driving someone else crazy besides myself!

**Dee**- Yea, it does suck to be a prisoner in my stories. Oh well.

**Out of Phase**- Sorry, all my chapters are short, I get confuse because they take up like ten pages in my notebook, maybe my hand writing is just too big.

**Dr. Dredd**- your right, killing everybody just wouldn't work. Although, there always is the alternate ending! And I just had to make everybody tolerate Bates, I like him to much, even though he is a jackass most of the time.

**Rowana Farrin**- Of course I had to leave you hanging, it's just so fun!

**Dawn**- hmmm, should mckay live or should he die? Let's find out.

**Tricky1379**- see, I updated quick this time!

**Angw**- "or maybe he should look in the other shack over there" rotf lmao! Love it, you kill me. Makes me just want to write, _Then they turned around and they saw Mckay's face staring at them through the window, looking irritated at them for taking so damn long._ But that wouldn't be dramatic enough.

Also, the intensity gets stepped up in this chapter.

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Chapter 7

Too Close

"Stackhouse," Bates said after he got over his own shock.

"Yes, sir." The voice came back.

"Scan the rest of the surrounding area for life signs."

"Sir?"

"Just do it, Sgt."

Sheppard finally rose back to his feet, the steel mask back on his face. Ford had a similar look on his face, but he was less practices and his eyes betrayed what he was feeling. Bates himself couldn't accept that after all this time and searching, fate could end it like this.

"Sir, there is a faint life reading about half a click north, north-west or you. It's getting weaker. That area is also still on fire, some debris started a fire on the dry grass."

"Copy that Stackhouse. We're going to check it out." Bates told Stackhouse as he chased after Sheppard and Ford as they had taken off as soon as Stackhouse said where the life sign was located. After about three minutes, they stopped to talk to Stackhouse again.

"Stackhouse, how close?" Sheppard barked into the mic.

"About 100 yards east of you, Sir." Stackhouse replied as they took off through the mild smoke cover. Just enough to labor their breathing and make them begin to cough. All three pulled up their shirts to cover their noses and mouths to help them breathe slightly as they ran, never missing a beat. They came up on a tiny metal shed with flames almost all around it. Ford threw off his backpack and pulled out his flame proof blanket and threw it to Sheppard who, with Bates and Ford right behind, preceded to the door. The sight that met them when they got the door open was one that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

The air was smoldering inside the shed and you could see the air washing our and disturbing the sight. Mckay was not even recognizable, but the three men knew it was him. Both of his eyes looked swelled shut and all the bruises and bleeding were hidden under a couple layers of dirt and mud. His leg was at an unnatural angle, but all three almost gagged when they got a closer look at him. Where ever his flesh had been ripped apart were insects, feeding off of his body and now burrowing inside his body to escape the heat.

"Let's get him out of here!" Sheppard yelled over the sounds of the fire as the three carefully but quickly carried him out of the hot box and away from the worst of the fire. "Beckett you copy?" Sheppard again bellowed into the mic.

"Aye. What is it Major?" the thick Scottish accent replied.

"Lock on out position and get over here now!" Beckett didn't even bother to reply and Sheppard watched as the insects inside of his friends wounds started appearing as they felt the cooler air. He frantically started brushing and pulling them out of him. Bates and Ford followed his lead. More and more kept appearing out of everywhere, there were hundreds of them. Only when he barely heard a low moan from his did he realize he never checked to see if his friend was still alive.

"Rodney? Can you hear me?" He leaned closer to his friend and felt for a pulse that was almost not there. _Shit, he's not breathing._ He reached for Rodney's head and opened his mouth, preparing him for mouth-to-mouth to keep him alive when he found the problem. He reached inside Rodney's mouth and started pulling the insects and worm like bugs that had taken residence there. It took him a minute or two to get the ones out that were lodged in his throat. When he was done with this he checked his friends breathing again, but there was none still. He started breathing for him when the jumper came into view.

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AN2: hehehe. Just the image of Rodney being beaten and covered in bugs that were everywhere is what I've been writing this whole story to get to. Now, I need to figure out how to end it, although it's so inviting to just put The End at the end of this chapter. I'm going to go shut up and study now. Three finals down and four to go, feels like I'm back in high school! Peace. REVIEW 


	8. Waiting

AN: Ok, so it's been a while. I'm sorry! Here it is, talk to you at the end of the chapter.

Waiting

* * *

Dark. He had been surrounded by this damn blackness for who knows how long. There was just space. In all his time here, Rodney McKay had realized something. If this was heaven, he'd rather be in hell and if this was hell, it was his own personal one.

The voices. He could still hear them every now and then. It just made it worse because he didn't know what was going on. He could make some educated guesses, but it seemed pointless when he couldn't prove or disprove them.

He was so tired of the dark. It only seemed to lighten when someone was talking to him, which someone was now. Big surprise, it sounded like Major Sheppard. John had only talked to him for what seemed like hours a day.

_I'm dead, or something, and he still can't stop annoying me._ But while he was here, Rodney didn't mind, it was the only familiar thing he had.

* * *

In the past three months, he'd come to associate not the sarcastic, nasal voice, but the heart monitor and ventilator to his friend. Blue eyes no longer shone with joyful curiosity at the site of newly discovered Ancient toys, they didn't even open.

Beckett had had someone bring in one of the good office chairs, since Rodney as rarely alone. Even after three months, his team and others had taken turns watching over the comatose scientist, but many were starting to lose hope despite Beckett's reports that he was slowly getting better.

"Hey Rodney," Sheppard said as he sat down beside the bed of his friend. "How are you doing today?" It was silent for a moment when Sheppard realized he was actually waiting for an answer.

"He's getting better Major." Beckett said walking up and standing by Sheppard.

"Any idea on when he should wake up?" Sheppard asked, hoping for a better answer than the one he had been getting for the past three months.

"Actually yes. He's showing signs of coming out of the coma. If he keeps going the way he has been, he'll be out of the coma in the next couple of days and should at least open his eyes by the end of the week. Probably wont be anymore than openin' em and closing em, but-"

"Are you serious? He's finally waking up?"

"Aye. His brain has mostly kept him this way because his body was in bad need of healin. But now that he's mostly healed, his mind can sense the safe environment of friends and it's letting him wake up. It'll just take some time." He patted Sheppard's shoulder and left.

"Come on McKay, you need to wake up already. Zelenka's not going to last much longer in your job. Of course probably know that by how much he rants when he comes to see you. Or are you staying asleep to annoy him to no end?" Sheppard couldn't bring himself to laugh. It was too hard not to see that annoyed look on his friends face. "Ford finally got the nerve up to ask out that nurse he's been obsessing over for the past few months. Teyla's been visiting the mainland a lot more, she says everyone keeps asking about you. Hell, everyone here keeps asking about you. Beckett's restricting visitors, but I've seen Bates, Markem, Stackhouse, Grodin, and some others sneak in here. It's too quiet around here." Sheppard stopped talking after that and just sat with his friend, listening to the hiss of the ventilator and the beep of the heart monitor until he drifted off to sleep, only to woken up by Teyla the next morning to switch shifts.

* * *

AN2: Ok people, that's it for now, I know it's short but I promise it wont be as long for the next chapter, being back in college makes me need to write to keep sane, so it wont be another three months!

Ok, I need some help, I've been trying to find this SG1 fic that happened, I guess you would say before Nemesis about Daniel's appendix bursting. I love it but I can't find it again and would love it if ne one has read it and could give me the title or the author or ne thing, this has been driving me crazy. Thanks and please REVIEW!


	9. Out of the Dark

AN: Here we go again!

Chapter 9

Out of the Dark

He could hear the voices more and more, recently. Sheppard, Ford, Teyla and Carson were almost always there, or at least their voices were. He finally knew what happened to him listening to Carson update his friends on his progress. Now he had to endure hours and hours of people nagging at him to wake up. He also knew more than he wanted to about Ford and his nurse girlfriend.

The thing that confused him the most was that he couldn't remember how he got into a coma. More and more kept coming back to him, but nothing that led him to a coma. He remembered being on a planet and his team being attacked. _They seemed concentrated on getting me, but that's probably because I'm the weakest link at that sort of thing._ After that, all he kept getting is flashes about caves and a cell. He really didn't want to even try to understand all of them, he knew it wouldn't be good at all.

He kept hearing someone, Sheppard, calling his name. Telling him it was time to wake up. _Damnit Major, do you think it's really that easy! You're not the one who's been sitting in this damn black abyss._ He knew he was being unfair, but he was frustrated. He barley noticed when everything around him slowly started to get brighter.

* * *

If Rodney was hardly alone before, he was really never alone now. Ever since Beckett had announced that Rodney was out of his coma and was just sleeping. It had been three days since that announcement, and Sheppard was feeling that Rodney was just being mean now. As if he was staying asleep on purpose.

"Alright fine, I know how to wake you up. Rodney, wake up. Rodney, wake up. Rodney, wake up. Rodney, wake up. McKay, Get your ass up. McKay, wake up. McKay, wake up. McKay, wake up now. McKay, either you wake up or I allow Kavangh free reign on all of the toys in your lab. Zelenka's been drooling over that phaser thing you've been messing with, he's kept his hands off it for a while, but you keep tempting him much longer…"

"Hasn't woke up yet then?" a Scottish accent came from behind him. Carson walked up and started checking Rodney over.

"No. How is it that he's been in a coma for three months and still done nothing but annoy the hell out of me?" Sheppard sighed and stared at his very still friend. Beckett laughed.

"He's just gifted in many ways. Don't worry too much. It'll be anytime now." He patted Sheppard on the shoulder and continued checking on Major Lorne's team who had an unfriendly encounter with an aboriginal tribe and came back poked full of arrows.

"Alright McKay," Sheppard takes back up his one sided conversation with the sleeping scientist. "This is getting ridiculous. Beckett's been saying 'anytime now' for the past three days. If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to be taking this personally. You better not think that you can get away with sleeping all day. And another thing-"

"Shu-…up…-ready" a voice for the bed croaked out.

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AN2: And that would be in for now. Review, Review, REVIEW! And yes I know I'm being mean with going so slow. 


	10. Into the Light

AN: Hey people, this is it. Thank you to all of you who have read this and reviewed all these times. **Angw,** I forgot to thank you for helping me find that story, so thank you! Also, to **Angw **and **Dr. Dredd**, I am very happy to take your suggestion of Fear Factor: Atlantis which I will be writing along side the story with no plot called Pure Insanity, which if you haven't checked out, please do so and review, I have no idea if people love it, hate it, or just think I have mental issues. Hehe. Okok, nuff chit chat, oh with the conclusion, dun dun dun.

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Chapter 10

Into the Light

"Bloody hell, Rodney. Get you stubborn arse back in that bed," Carson yelled as he came out of his office only to witness a very weak Rodney McKay attempt to escape. Rodney stood there, gripping his IV pole and an extra for dear life as he tried to scuffle out of the infirmary.

"No, I wanna go home." That was one of the only few sentences that Rodney had spoken in a week. When he gave up his loosing fight of going back to his room, he would only say two other things: "Give me food" or Carson's personal favorite because of the snowballs chance in hell of him actually doing it was "Get me my laptop." _Yea, right. You're out of yer bloody mind._ Carson walked up to Rodney and started pulling him back towards his bed.

"Wrong way. Wanna go home." Rodney protested again as he tried to make this as hard on Carson as possible since he wasn't physically strong enough to resist, yet.

"Rodney, we've been through this before, I cannea release you yet. You barely made it 10 feet before you looked about to collapse. And no, you don't get yer laptop. I don't need you working yerself into exhaustion when yer body can't take it. So, here we are, back in bed. Rest. And if I see you up again, I'm getting the restraints." With that Carson went to check on his few other patients.

"Damn Voodoo witch doctor." Rodney muttered grumpily as he watched Carson walk away.

"Let me guess, Beckett still won't give you your laptop?" Rodney jumped as Sheppard walked over to him.

"No, but he said someone could bring it to me. He just doesn't want me to get it or to go get it himself. But I'm sure if you brought it-"

"Not a chance McKay. Don't think that fools me for a second." Sheppard said as he laughed at Rodney's attempt.

"I wanna go home." Rodney said again.

"Being a common resident here myself, that's something I completely understand."

"I wanna go back to work."

"Beckett won't let that happen for a while."

"I'm completely bored out of my mind."

"That's why I'm here"

"I'm starving. This food makes that uneditable stuff Bates' team brought back a while ago taste good."

"Ahh, I can also help you there, if you promise not to tell Beckett."

"I wanna…Huh?" Rodney visibly brightened. "Yea, I won't tell, what'd you bring?"

Sheppard grins and pulls out a Hershey's bar. McKay immediately grabs it out of Sheppard's hand, rips open the package, brakes off a square and savors it. Sheppard just laughs as Rodney takes off one more square, then folds the wrapper over and hides the rest. After he's done with his second piece, he turns on Sheppard.

"You've been holding out on me." He said as he glared at Sheppard who just laughed.

"I always carry around some sweets and stuff. Never know when you're going to go all hypoglycemic on me, so Beckett told me to carry around sugar. So I did."

"Oh…thanks." He mumbled and started playing with the sheets with his hands.

"So…nightmares slow down yet?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney glared at him for a second, then relaxed when he realized there was no ridicule there, just concern. "Slow down, but haven't stopped completely. I always knew the saying 'Don't let the bed bugs bite' wasn't as innocent as it seemed." He shivered a little as Sheppard looked down for a second, not wanting to show his distress to remembering the image of his friend after they pulled him out of that damn house. It's one of the reasons someone was always with Rodney at night. Ford, Teyla, Zelenka, hell even Bates had popped in one night, although that was mostly to keep Sheppard company, or at least that's what he liked everyone to believe. Rodney was the one to finally break the awkward silence.

"I really can't get you to sneak my laptop in here?"

"Rodney" an exasperated Sheppard muttered.

"Maybe if I challenge Bates or Ford with how they would never be able to slip it past Carson, their egos would pressure them into having to prove that they can."

"Nothing you try will work McKay." Sheppard said with that damn smirk on his face.

"And why is that Major?" Rodney replied in kind with his normal acidic tone.

"Beckett's threatened the entire base with experimental testing and an extremely complete physical if anyone even attempts to retrieve your laptop from your lab." He paused at Rodney's shocked expression and took a second to make sure his composure didn't crack, then continued. "He has the control panel somehow wired so that your lab only opens for Zelenka or Grodin and checks every night how much the door was opened, who opened it, and makes sure your laptop is exactly where it has been for the past four months." Sheppard had to bite his tongue to keep from losing it at McKay's expression. It took a while, but after a while, McKay finally was able to make sound come out of his mouth.

"Damn Voodoo witch doctor." Was all he muttered. Unfortunately, it's exactly when Beckett walked over.

"What was that Rodney?"

"Nothing, nothing." He was able to escape Beckett's wrath by yawning.

"Aye, well rest lad, your bodies still healin and you've been putting it under a lot of stress tryin to escape so damn much." Beckett smiled at them, then left on his rounds. McKay was fighting sleep.

"Ya know, I knew you guys would come for me, I was just wondering what was taking so long." There was no glare or anger in his voice, he was just stating fact.

"It took forever to find you. No one knew where they took the people they kidnapped." He stated as he watched Rodney slowly start to drift off, but still fighting giving in. "Rest Rodney, we'll be here when you wake up" Then with one last look at Sheppard, he closed his eyes and surrendered to sleep.

John leaned back in his chair, reached under the bed where he hid Rodney's laptop. _Wonder how long it'll take Beckett to realize Rodney's laptop isn't the one in his lab. Please, don't let him figure out it's mine._ He opened the laptop and begun to play solitaire on the scientist's laptop as its owner slept through the night for the first time since he woke up.

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AN2: That's all folks. Please check out Pure Insanity which is already on this site, and stayed tuned for Fear Factor: Atlantis, coming real soon. Don't forget to review! 


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